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Volunteer/Community service: About 120 hours at the local Science Center, a few hours from Beta Club projects

Summer Activities: Volunteered at the Science Center for the last two years, cross country conditioning.

Essays (rating 1-10, details): 5? Not great, but they weren't terrible. I couldn't come up with good ideas, but the people who reviewed them told me they were funny and showed my personality. Hit or miss.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: Fantastic. 9, called me one of his best students ever, was pretty decently written, gave good details.

Teacher Rec #2: Great. 8, went into detail about some things I didn't write in my essays, very well written.

Counselor Rec: I never knew my counselor, so it was probably positive, but not personal. Didn't read it.

Additional Rec: None

Interview: Wasn't offered

Other

State: Kentucky

School Type: Public

Ethnicity: White

Gender: Male

Income Bracket: About 150k

Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Absolutely nothing.

Reflection

Strengths: Test scores, grades

Weaknesses: Mediocre essays, no extraordinary ECs. Didn't do anything great during the summer. I've done really well at the things I've done, but I haven't done anything that makes me stand out.

Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Definitely the essays. I know that there's some combination of words I could've produced that would've gotten me admitted outright, and I didn't find it. I hope it's good enough in the RD round.

Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Haven't received any yet.

General Comments: Very frustrating. Would've liked an answer now, but this is how it goes sometimes. I'll be fine whatever the final decision is.

Job/Work Experience: three minimum wage jobs, two at restaurants and one as a camp counselor

Volunteer/Community service: Habitat for Humanity week-long volunteer trip that I organized, Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, Robert Wood Johnson Pediatrics, work with local Vacation Bible School, Light the Night Walk, Ryan's Quest 5K, more than I could remember, and many I never wrote down

Essays (rating 1-10, details): 4, cluttered and hard to follow. I am a poor essayist. I was told by an editor who works with my mother that I sounded pompous or full of myself. I tried not to.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): I did not read any of the recommendations

Interview: N/A (not offered)

Other

State (if domestic applicant): NJ

School Type: Public

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Gender: M

Income Bracket: $240K in 2013, ~$120K in 2014

Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None that I considered listing. I realized after that I submitted my application I should have included by published sportswriting.Reflection

Strengths: Scores, GPA, ECs

Weaknesses: Essays

Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Probably the essays. Maybe the recommendations, since I didn't read them. Also could be a lack of focus or passion, which I've heard Stanford looks for. And it's a small thing, but I should have done better on the Math II SATII, which it's supposed to be very easy to get a high score on. I forgot my calculator on the day of the exam.

Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: No other responses yet

Volunteer/Community service: Translator at AEOtour college fair for UCs

Summer Activities:, Exchange trip to US, Australia, Switzerland;Business Camp ( Best group of consultants, best presentation)

Essays (rating 1-10, details):8, people who looked at it says it's awesome. PS about my exchange trip to Switzerland and contrast between life in the Alps and life in Shanghai, and conveys that small things in life should be appreciated. Intellectual Vitality about the digital age and logical relationship between my various ECs. Roommate letter about my quirkiness and Texan accent. What matters and why about my club organizing experience and smart work.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1:1

Teacher Rec #2:1

Counselor Rec:1 ( teachers are not devoting time and barely know anything about the US system)

Additional Rec:

The professor I worked with in NUS
Interview:

Other

State (if domestic applicant):

Country (if international applicant): China

School Type: Private

Ethnicity: Asian

Gender:Male

Income Bracket:120000

Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

NopeReflection

Strengths: ECs, international exposure, clear major track

Weaknesses:no major awards/ recognition, applying from China

Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected:No idea... Stanny is a mystery

Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:

Not yetGeneral Comments:Life goes on and sucks. Luckily I can still pursue excellent CS education in CMU or Berkeley, only with a lot more of frozen rains or much more crowded campus.

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Theater is largest, all years of highschool, 5000+ hours, 50+ shows, acting, teching, helping around the theater. Science Bowl, 4 years, went to nationals junior year. Competed in Poetry Out Loud for 3 years, went to state twice. AMC club, nearly qualified on AMC 10 in 10th grade and AMC 12 in 11th grade.

Volunteer/Community service: Various service works for my theater as a general handyman and crew for shows.

Summer Activities: Shows every summer, acting camp in 10th grade followed by new york trip, Stanford University Mathematics Camp in 11th grade.

Essays (rating 1-10, details): Common App: 9+. Wrote about rising in the ranked system in League of Legends and used it to show my work ethic. Extra Curricular: 10. Talked about my love of theater and how it was the first place where I had a community that accepted me for who I was. Decent stuff for 50 words and less. Intellectual vitality: 8+. Wrote about how learning about rationality makes me question everything I believe and not take anything at face value, think for yourself sort of thing. Roommate 8+: talked about how I got into videogames and how it let me hang out with friends around my parents schedule. Felt kind of odd in places. Matters essay: 8+. Listed out a bunch of things that matter to me and why: being happy, thinking logically, fairness, knowledge. Sometimes I really liked it, sometimes I didn't.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: From math teacher, I'm one of her star pupils, she helped me get into the Stanford University Mathematics Camp, she's gotten tons of students into Stanford and the math camp, probably a 10.

Teacher Rec #2: History teacher. I was a comic person in her class, not scared of her like some but willing to be kind of playful with her in class when most wouldn't. Heard her writing isn't the strongest but I think she put good things in. 8.5

Counselor Rec: 10. She told me she wrote me a really strong rec and that she was really proud of me.

Additional Rec: From the director of SUMaC, Rick Sommer, a professor at Stanford. I think I made a fairly good impression at the camp.

Interview: N/A

Other

State (if domestic applicant): Arizona

Country (if international applicant): US

School Type: Charter

Ethnicity: White

Gender: Male

Income Bracket: 150,000+

Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): SUMaC

Reflection

Strengths: SUMaC, no EC fatigue by spreading myself out too much, shows dedication to one thing, theater. Enough grades to get past the threshold, but also amazing course rigor showing I'm challenging myself. My essays were pretty original and very honest. They just talked about me as a person.

Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I think SUMaC was probably a major factor. It got me interested in Stanford in the first place.

Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Early, none others but local schools.

General Comments: Be honest in your essays. Let them get to know you. Perfect test scores aren't that important, they just want a certain level so they know you are capable of doing their classes. If you can get into SUMaC, I think it's a major leg up. And if you don't get in, there are tons of other good schools and you only need to get into 1. I'll probably get rejected from some of the other top schools (applying for financial aid reasons, probably going to Stanford.) Good luck everyone!

Essays (rating 1-10, details): I'll give them 7/8 out of 10; from what I've heard people thought my essays were pretty good; I thought they were decent, though nobody has said they're spectacular. I might post them somewhere after the RD deadline though.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1 & #2: N/A, since I never read them. Both teachers like me though, so I bet they're good.

Counselor Rec: N/A, same as above.

Additional Rec: N/A, though I think this rec presented new information not in the other recs.

Interview: I thought it went pretty well - conveyed my interest in the school, learned quite a bit about Stanford life.

Other

State (if domestic applicant): TX

Country (if international applicant):

School Type: Private

Ethnicity: Asian - Filipino

Gender: M

Income Bracket: would rather not post (< 100k, but I'm not poor by any means)

Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): probably none

Reflection

Strengths: Very good test scores and grades

Weaknesses: My ECs aren't particularly spectacular

Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Essays might have saved my app from rejection, but I'm not sure.

Summer Activities: Worked at a cancer center for 3 summers, did lab work in combination with that for the last summer

Essays (rating 1-10, details): Intellectual - 8 - Wrote about Pokemon and most people I read said I made an unlikely topic work
Roommate - 6 - Kind of meh, just talking about my interests
Matters - 9 - About my art and I really like this one because it wasn't in a normal essay format

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Psychology teacher, French teacher, additional rec from the cancer center where I worked, but I can't rate because I didn't read any of them

Counselor Rec: No idea, didn't see

Interview:

Other

State (if domestic applicant): Florida

Country (if international applicant):

School Type: IB magnet

Ethnicity: Asian

Gender: Female

Income Bracket: Upper middle class

Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Reflection

Strengths: Submitted an art supplement and art was a main theme of my app

Weaknesses: Asian, subpar stats, generally not a super strong app

Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: See weaknesses

Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:

No idea yetGeneral Comments:
This surprisingly didn't hurt that much, partially because I had been starting to doubt whether I really wanted to attend Stanford or not towards the end. I don't want to sound like one of those people who says that just because they're bitter, but I realized that since I still wanted to continue something in art, I might be better off going somewhere else to play to my strengths. Anyway, I didn't have a spectacular application or anything, so this wasn't too shocking for me. Was disappointed that my arts supplement didn't make a difference though.

Congrats to accepted and deferred! Time to go work on my other applications with double the effort.

Essays (rating 1-10, details): Common app background story (9/10): about playing football with Christian players and coaches when I never grew up with religion, EC supplement (5/10): about my internships in Jakarta, Intellectual Vitality (6/10): pretty lame, about becoming a better writer in high school, Roommate (6/10): didn't really show who I am as a person, What Matters (7/10): about movies and how they've given me perspective on life.

Weaknesses: GPA, SAT, ACT, ECs, Awards, Minimal community service, I probably came off as a student that wouldn't have much impact at Stanford.

Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Low scores, no true hooks other than the legacy, but even that won't make up for everything.

Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:Stanford was my first admission decision

General Comments: My kindergarten teacher knew me as the kid that wanted to go to Stanford, so you can imagine that this is a pretty life-changing decision for me. Looking back, I know I was setting myself up for disappointment. I wish my parents stopped me before the train got going and I became known as "that kid destined to go to Stanford". On the other hand, this will be an invaluable life lesson.

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): USABO Semifinalist, AIME Qualifer, University State Math Finalist (2x) JETS National Engineering Competition 1st in State, 15th in Nation, National BYG Knowledge Champion, Several other state awards in science, several state awards in Quizbowl

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Music Production (really srs about dis), Video Game Design, Science Olympiad (Technology Manager), Psychology Club (president), member of local orchestra that performed in Australia, linguistics self-study

Essays (rating 1-10, details): Put my personality into full force into all of them, Common App, 7, about me failing to get elected to ASB, cliche-ish but the ending was pretty strong imo
Intellectual Vitality, 9, about the joys of debugging every day
What Matters, 8, about a unique music technique I do
Roommate, no idea 8?, showed my irreverence, yet desire to learn and work together
EC Essay, 7, about volunteering at the tree nursery

[*] Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

no numbers because i didn't read them

Teacher Rec #1: APUSH teacher, did a research project with him, and he likes me

Teacher Rec #2: Math teacher for 3 years, I was a good student, but not too active in class

Weaknesses: no tangible awards or recognition, applying to CS without standing out in that field

Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I was super unclear about the awards I did and made them seem like really huge deals, when they weren't, probably sounded suspicious

Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: no idea yet

General Comments: Stanford is the hardest school to get in to in the United States, and it gets worse for Asians applying from California. I love being Asian though (best food evar), and made it clear at various parts of my application, for better or for worse. Plus all the legacy and athlete spots (they totally deserve it, just pointing out that there's barely any space for a regular person to get in as is) are reserved for EA. Not too bummed about the rejection, since I was fully expecting one. It would have been nice to be done with college apps, but looks like it's time to start in full force. The essays I have now are pretty solid, though, and I'm sure that they'll get me into college across the country.
And I'd been thinking about other schools a lot as the decision date neared. I'm pretty glad I didn't get in to Stanford, actually, because we all know it's a bubble. While I'd love to be part of it, I can see that going to Stanford would have hindered my music career (which may or may not take off). Looking at colleges in cities with a big music scene right now, so MIT, UC Berkeley, and UCLA are particularly enticing. CMU also has a cool Music program in the CS department, and trying for Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, UChicago (house producer's dream school, I tell ya), and Caltech as well.

Essays (rating 1-10, details): 7, really liked my Common App and intellectual vitality ones but ended up not being too happy with the other two, teachers and others who read my essays still really liked them though

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: Didn't read, but I'm sure it was good

Teacher Rec #2: Didn't read, also sure that it was good

Counselor Rec: Didn't really know me and I didn't read it

Additional Rec:

Interview:

Other

State (if domestic applicant): CA

Country (if international applicant):

School Type: Large public (~2000)

Ethnicity: White

Gender: Male

Income Bracket: 90,000-ish

Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): I'd like to consider myself first generation because my dad didn't go to college, but my mom went to community so I guess not

Reflection

Strengths: GPA, extracurricular involvement with leadership, felt like I really showed I was well-rounded while also having a clear passion in some of the clubs I joined

Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I know that Stanford really takes into account the essay portion of the app, and while I liked my essays, Stanford may have wanted more from me. If my test scores may have been a bit higher, I also probably would have been a lot more competitive.

Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: None yet

General Comments: When it came down to it, I really was expecting a rejection. Everyone always told me that I would easily get in, but I knew that it was a lot harder than that so I was preparing for the worst. Even though I have been hung up on this school for a long time, right now I'm trying to remind myself that getting in would have been like winning the lottery, and I have plenty of other schools to wait for decisions from. Posting on here is a huge relief, because now I just want to move on and focus on the other stuff. Congrats to all of the admits!!!